THE THEATRE YOU DESERVE

Imperialism might be dead, but the Empire is still alive and well. Bombs, Money and the Media make up the backbone of modern political order.

THE THEATRE YOU DESERVE is a participatory project which toys with its audience’s expectation and directly questions its responsibility of the performance. In this project, which avoids live performers on stage, the audience achieves and loses its dignity and responsibility by use of money. The stage event was preceded by a viral e-mail campaign conceptually organized around the identity theft of notable theater workers. Aside from that, the project was announced in semi-truthful PR adverts as a political sketch on the subject of imperialism.

After 15 minutes of a conventional performance, the theater was surrounded by the performance team, demanding from the audience members to individually sign a contract, give out their mobile phone number and pay to remain in the performing space. All those who did not agree to this blackmail were removed from the main performance space. From that moment on, THE THEATRE YOU DESERVE takes place simultaneously in four different venues, and an individual viewer is disabled from seeing the entirety of the event. The challenge for each member of the audience was in testing their personal risk taking and facing their own level of corruptibility, not knowing the final outcome of a number of decisions made. At the end of the performance, the money made from the extra tickets is left in the theater on an empty stage. In just a few seconds, the money was snatched away.
 

Credits

Concept and direction: Borut Šeparović / Advice: Croatian Legal Center / Adaptation of text: Katarina Pejović / Performers: Sven Medvešek, Vili Matula, Nataša Dangubić, Damir Bartol Indoš, Dean Krivačić, Mislav Čavajda, Tvrtko Jurić, Nikša Marinović, Borka Ivošević, Nataša Antoniazzo, Ana Stunić, Nina Violić, Oliver Frljić, Damir Klemenić, Srećko Borse, Boris Bušić, Željko Kanić, Vedran Ladešić, Dalibor Sabolek / Music and sound: Višeslav Labosh / Graphic design: Studio Cavarpayer / Photography: Damir Žižić / Internet support: Netipični d.o.o. / Coordination and public relations: Dinka Bujas / Project financed by: Office for Education, Culture and Sports of the City of Zagreb, Austrian Cultural Forum / Media coverage: javno.hr, Metro express / Production: MONTAЖ$TROJ and &td